I loved making this plaque for a client’s home using stained glass and 24 karat gold smalti.

It was such an honor to get to make this beautiful plaque for my client’s home. She wanted something elegant to honor her home, Casa de Los Robles (House of the Oak), that was built in 1927.

A major feature of this mosaic is the gold smalti, which is 24 karat gold leaf between layers of glass. This beautiful and coveted glass comes from the Orsoni glass company in Venice, Italy. I had the idea of working with gold smalti and the client loved it, but then we were left with the dilemma that she definitely wanted the “de” to be placed in the tree trunk. I could have used dark gold smalti for the background and yellow gold to stand out in the tree, but I personally feel that using different colors in font is less elegant. The USA supplier of the gold at the time didn’t have this darkest of colors that had a certain refraction that allowed it to stand out against both dark brown and cream glass. Fortunately, when I relayed the significance of this particular color, the supplier managed to either find some stashed away or get some from Italy before her regular shipment, which would have been several months if the factory even had any in stock. To me, this color totally makes the mosaic work, so I was elated.

Then I had to sculpt this thick glass using andamento that keeps the script lettering light and consistent. Instead of recessing this glass that is slightly thicker than stained glass, I kept its depth so that it rose above a bit to stand out and reflect the light cleanly. I also used this bronze gold smalti in addition to a more traditional yellow gold smalti for the acorns and the border. The rest of the mosaic is stained glass.

I created the Casa de Los Robles mosaic in one piece on Wedi board. I grouted it and shipped it to California to be installed, recessed, into the wall of the client’s butler’s pantry. The client was kind enough to send along this picture after the installation.